AUSTRALIANS AT WAR

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Monday, May 04, 2015

I suspect that Mick Keelty, John Howard and Philip Ruddock
are pleased that the two Bali Nine boys were shot to death in the early hours
of Wednesday morning of the 29 April 2015 as it finalises a plan first hatched
back in April 2005.

It was then that Lee Rush, the father of Scott Rush, one of
the gang members of a drug smuggling operation, realising that his son was
about to fly to Bali in order to bring drugs back to Australia, contacted the
Australian Federal Police via a lawyer friend to inform them of what was about
to happen with a view of getting the AFP to stop Scott Rush from boarding that
aircraft to Bali. The AFP assured Robert Myers, the lawyer friend of Lee Rush,
that Scott would be stopped before leaving the country. It didn’t happen. Scott
Rush was allowed to leave Australia to fly to Bali.

Instead of warning Scott Rush off, who could then warn off
the other members of the smuggling team, the AFP instead tipped off their
Indonesian counterparts warning them that the smuggling team was about to
arrive just before Scott Rush boarded the
flight to Bali on 8 April 2005. Nine days later Rush and three others were
arrested at Denpasar airport as they were about to leave for the return journey
home. Chan and Sukumaran were also arrested at Denpasar airport. Three others
were arrested at their hotel as they were preparing to leave.

So, what happened?

Clearly, instead of warning the gang that if they proceeded
with their plan they would be arrested by the Indonesian police and charged
with smuggling offences, the AFP decided to allow the gang to go ahead with
their plan knowing that the consequences would likely end with at least one or
two of the gang being sentenced to death by shooting.

So, why did Mick Keelty let them go ahead with their plan
knowing that they would be caught and suffer the consequences?

In fact, it would not have been Keelty’s call to allow the
gang to go ahead with their plan especially in light of the probability that at
least one or two of them would likely receive the death penalty. Keelty would,
at least, have consulted with the Attorney General of the day, Philip Ruddock
who, in turn would have consulted the Prime Minister, John Howard.

It was at this point that I believe Howard and Ruddock,
despite their declared stance against the death penalty, made the decision to
allow the smuggling operation to go ahead knowing that it would be thwarted and
that as a consequence of the trials that would follow one or more of the nine
involved would receive the death penalty. Furthermore, as I stated at the time,
regardless of the appeals against the sentences and the pleas for clemency as
the time for execution approached, at least one or two of the gang would
ultimately be executed. I further suggested that this would happen regardless of
whatever else happened and that it would happen because of some kind of
agreement between the Howard government and the Indonesian government in order
to deter Australians from smuggling drugs from Indonesia to Australia. That
plan has now been carried through to completion.

My evidence supporting this assertion is circumstantial
though, once known, seems to be compelling especially in the light of what has
happened.

Howard first spoke of the affair on 10 April 2005 at a
doorstop interview at the Great Hall of the People whilst visiting China
negotiating a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and China when a
journalist asked Howard “…what’s the significance of the… operation that has
led to eight men being charged with…”. “What is the significance of it?” Howard
asked. “Yes”, said the journalist, to which Howard replied:

“Well the operational aspects of
that should be commented upon by the Australian Federal Police. I didn't know
anything about it and nor should I until the people were arrested. It is normal
for the Australian Federal Police to cooperate with the Indonesian police if
they have reason to believe that people have broken the law. I would always
encourage the Australian Federal Police to cooperate with their counterparts in
neighbouring countries in the apprehension of suspected drug offenders. But as
to the details of this particular case I know nothing other than that nine
people have been arrested, that they are entitled like anybody else to a
presumption of innocence, I hope they will be dealt with fairly and justly by
the process, the charges are very serious and there's quite a number of
Australians involved, nine, it's a large number. This is a matter though for
the courts, the Indonesian authorities, but I endorse very strongly, very
strongly indeed, cooperation between the Australian Federal Police and the
Indonesian authorities in trying to track down people who are trafficking in
drugs.”

The journalist pushed Howard
further: “Prime Minister, is it possible that as a consequence of this joint
operation involving the AFP that Australians could face the death penalty...”
but, before the journalist could finish, Howard interrupted saying, “Jim, I'm
not going to start making comments that in any way bear upon this particular
case, that would be inappropriate, I think you know that.”[1]

Clearly, Howard was already very
familiar with the case and was aware of the significance of it, particularly
with regard to the use of the death penalty but did not want to discuss it at
that time.

According to Bob Myers, the
barrister friend of Lee Rush, father of Scott Rush, “the AFP had all the
evidence they needed to arrest the nine before they left Australia on a heroin
smuggling mission. Instead it (the AFP) let them travel to Bali and then told
Indonesian police about the crime they were about to commit”. [2]
In a statement to the media on 4 May 2015, Commissioner of the AFP, Andrew
Colvin, said: “We can’t
apologise for the role that we have to try to stop illicit drugs from coming
into this community.”[3] But,
if that is the case, why did the AFP not warn the Bali Nine that they knew of
their plot to bring drugs into Australia. It’s not enough to simply state that
the AFP didn’t have enough evidence to arrest them before leaving for Bali.
They could just as easily have brought them in for questioning where they could
have been warned of the consequences of going ahead with their plan and in
particular the possibility that they may even face the death penalty if caught
with drugs. To say there was not enough evidence to arrest them is a complete
furphy. They needn’t have even been arrested; just simply brought in and told
that the AFP knew what was going on and if they went ahead with their plan they
would in all likelihood be arrested in Bali.

The next question is: Was it Mick
Keelty’s decision alone to hand over the Bali Nine Australians on a plate to
the Indonesian police knowing full well that they may well end up facing a
firing squad? Would Keelty have had that kind of authority to make such a
decision knowing how serious the political repercussions might be? Keelty would
at least have had to consult the Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, about the
case before contacting the Indonesian authorities about the plan - especially
in cases where the death penalty is a possibility. Philip Ruddock in turn would
have then needed to discuss the situation with John Howard who was in China at
the time.

Judging by the response that Howard gave to questions about
the affair at that doorstop interview in Beijing, Howard had certainly already
been briefed on the matter and was clearly keen to pass the buck of responsibility
back to the AFP accompanied by some carefully considered words about the ‘presumption
of innocence’ and the hope ‘that they would be dealt with fairly and justly’ by
the Indonesian legal system. In other words, as far as John Howard was
concerned, the matter was fait accompli
since the Bali Nine were now in the hands of the Indonesian authorities.

It seems now that a certain unnamed AFP officer who asked to
be taken off the case because of his concerns about the possibility of the
death sentence being involved will become the fall guy for this whole sorry
affair in an attempt to absolve Ruddock and Howard of any responsibility. The
reality however, is that it was Howard, Ruddock and Keelty who between them
deliberately set up at least two of the Bali Nine for execution so as to deter
other Australians from bringing drugs to Australia despite their claims of
finding the death sentence abhorrent.

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About Me

is an Aeronautical Engineer, Historian and general carer of what goes on in the world.
Apart from an earlier career in engineering, Lataan also has a First Class Honours BA degree in History and a PhD in International Politics.
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